THE FISHING REPORT

BEST BETS

PACIFIC OCEAN

GOLDEN GATE:The weekend was spectacular if you should happen to enjoy the murderous pounding of waves. The buoys had them driving for shore in lumps that finally arched up and crashed on home at something approaching 32 feet. Awesome in scope. Even somewhat clean, said the surfers. But for purposes of fishing, it was a time for painting a hull or swilling the Christmas brew. Fishing could wait. Besides, the sun was shining. And somehow it seems wrong to die on the ocean under a blue sky. Well, anyhow, that swell came down to 12-15 feet by Tuesday. And that day the boats ventured out. The New Easy Rider out of Berkeley fished the Farallones for 11 limits of rockfish (110 fish) before stopping at the pots for limits of Dungeness crab (66). Yesterday, with even less swell and a wind of 10-15 knots, both the New Golden Eye and C Gull II (docked in Emeryville) were out. Scores worked out to 140 rockfish and 80 Dungeness crab on the former, and 19 limits of rockfish (olives, blues, yellows and canary) and crab on the latter. Most sportfishing centers will be sending boats the remainder of the week and into the New Year, which is when the season reopens for lingcod. If you'd like to go, call ahead for a spot on the rail. In terms of gear, some of the party boats are carrying live bait. For this, the hardware will run toward three-way swivels, 5/0 hooks (for the sardines), and anywhere from 8 ounces to a pound of lead, de pending on the water depth. Otherwise, bring your Diamond bars and jigs. For the private boaters out there, keep in mind that the bar out front the Golden Gate was breaking yesterday.

Information: San Francisco: (415) 457-8388, (650) 965-3474, (415) 586-9800, (415) 892-2353, (415) 221-3825, (510) 352-5708; Sausalito: (415) 454-3191, (415) 924-6851, (415) 924-6851, (415) 332-1015; Berkeley: (510) 849-2727, (415) 752-5886; Emeryville: (510) 654-6040. PACIFICA:A crowd gathered near the pier over the weekend. Again, not to fish but rather in spirit of that burgeoning winter tradition known as Wave Watching. Such a thing. And, apparently, the far-off wind and nearby ocean delivered. The waves plowed into the pilings and rumbled over the seawall. And Friday through Christmas Day, the pier was closed. Yesterday, with the waves down (somewhat), a few anglers were back on the pier. No word on what, if anything, they were catching.

Information: (650) 355-0690. HALF MOON BAY:The Queen of Hearts out of Huck Finn Sportfishing has an open-load rockfishing trip scheduled for Saturday. With reasonable weather, the boat will be heading to the Farallon Islands. If things look marginal, the plan is to fish the local reefs. As of yesterday, space was available. Also, starting next week, the sportfishing center will be running whale-watching trips.

Information: (650) 726-7133, (650) 728-3377, (650) 728-7725, (650) 726-2926, (888) 747-8433, (650) 726-2913. SANTA CRUZ-MONTEREY:Mike Baxter and the Wild Wave (out of Santa Cruz's Shamrock Charters) ran a rockfishing venture to Davenport yesterday, and bagged 11 limits of rockfish. Otherwise, a few of the private boaters have been working the local reefs for decent catches of rockfish. Out of Monterey, the weather has been about as good as it gets this time of year. With no wind and a swell less than 5 feet, the New Holiday yesterday motored to waters just south of Point Sur. The result was 30 limits of rockfish that included yellow-eye, olive, canary and bocaccio. Sticking with the whale watching, a one- hour run out of Monterey yesterday put a group withing eyeing distance of blue, humpback and gray whales, along with Dall's porpoises, and white- sided and Risso's dolphins.

THE BAYS

SAN FRANCISCO:All but the perch enthusiasts seem to be waiting for rain. While they're waiting, they're talking about a guy named Jack. The talk seems to pare down to 1) this guy who doesn't like to use his last name has been fishing every day down toward the Dumbarton and 2) his unofficial count is 20 sturgeon already hooked and landed this season. There's not much more to add to the story, except that rumor has it he uses nothing but whole her ring, of the 6-inch, green-label variety. Otherwise ... There are the usual rays and small sharks being caught from the S.F. Embarcadero to Hunters Point; there has been a decent perch bite off the Alameda Rockwall and Berkeley Pier on grass shrimp and pile worms; and, going by the shop talk, there seems to be decent fishing for soupfin and leopard sharks from Bay Farm Island.

Information: Brisbane: (650) 589-3474; Emeryville: (510) 654-6040; Berkeley: (510) 849-2727, (510) 223-5388; Oakland: (510) 534-1131; Alameda: (510) 521-2460, (510) 521-2460. SAN PABLO:Four or five calls out yesterday turned up the same state-of-the-bay-sturgeon address: It's slow, but improving. All of the action is around the Pumphouse, with waters 10-12 feet deep serving as The Zone. Locally, about the best we could come up with was Gary ""Tree Man" Graw putting in a monster of 48 inches on a boat run by a guy the other guys call Bobby ""Two Sticks." Which makes you want to do little more than turn on ""The Sopranos" and forget about the whole thing. An other call found word of the Highliner, a six-pack boat out of Port Sonoma that fished Tuesday at the Pumphouse and put in two sturgeon, 34 and 52 pounds, and one striped bass for three anglers. Today's outgoing tide looks respectable, if you can be on the water from about 1 p.m. until dark. Otherwise, your next series of Sturgeon Tides start in next Thursday and run clear on through well, for a couple of weeks. Beyond minus tides, what we really need is rain.

Information: San Rafael: (415) 456-0321; Sonoma: (707) 762-7818. SUISUN:Last week, after a rough day for guide Barry Canevaro, we hinted on a hint from the captain that he'd be scooting out of the delta in favor of Montezuma Slough. Oddly enough, he's been there ever since. The day after he mentioned his plan, in fact, the guide put his clients into four limits of striped bass and a 65-inch sturgeon, which was landed on 15-pound monofilament. Yesterday, Barry and his wife, Diana, put their respective groups into near-limits of striped bass, caught be tween Montezuma Bridge and Nurse Slough. Both the stripers and sturgeon have been caught on filleted shad. But if you're targeting sturgeon, you may want to go with an 18-inch, two-hook leader. Outside of that, there are reports of party boats anchoring for sturgeon off Pittsburg.

Information: Pittsburg: (925) 458-4904; Martinez: (510) 223-5388; Crockett: (925) 787-1048. THE DELTA:In case you thought you had it figured out, there are mitten crabs chewing baits in Cache Slough. But from Rio Vista to Sherman Lake, the critters seem to disappear. And then they start up again. Go figure. Anyway, there don't seem to be many fish being caught. The water is running toward ""cold," which certainly must be a factor. But this also is the time of year we see some catches of monster striped bass around places like Horse shoe Bend, behind Decker Island.

THE LAKES

TROUT PLANTINGS:The following impoundments were, or will be, greeted by the hatchery trucks this week ... SACRAMENTO: Lake Natoma and Fol som Lake. NAPA: Lake Hennessey. MARIN: La gunitas and Phoenix lakes. SANTA CLARA: Camp bell Perc Pond, and Cottonwood and Sandywool lakes. SANTA CRUZ: Pinto Lake. To kick off the New Year ... LAKE: Upper Blue Lake. NAPA: Lake Hennessey. MARIN: Bon Tem pe and Lagunitas lakes. ALAMEDA: Lake Chabot (Castro Valley), Del Valle (Livermore) and Shadow Cliffs Lake (Pleasanton). CONTRA COSTA: Con tra Loma Reservoir (Antioch). FRESNO: Avocado Lake, Kings River (below Pine Flat Dam), San Joaquin River (below Friant Dam). KERN: Hart Lake, Kern River, Ming Lake, Lake Woollomes. CLEAR:Outdoor writer and local hero Terry Knight fished yesterday with Dave Majestic, a guide out of Lakeport. They worked the north end of the lake, off the docks at Lakeport and Lucerne, and caught 18 bass, all between 3 and 5 pounds and all caught on jumbo minnows. Even though they were using live bait, Knight said nearly every bite was what you might call ""tentative." This because of the cold water. The surface temperature was 40 degrees when they started out; when they finished, it had warmed to 44 degrees. Still, if you're skilled at this kind of fishing, it's been 15-25 fish days. According to Knight, this is the finest winter bass fishing they've seen in at least 15 years. And it should continue until the next significant storm muddies the water. Information: (707) 279-0472. INDIAN VALLEY:Knight also fished this lake recently, largely on the advice of a married couple who said they'd had little trouble trolling for limits of trout to 19 inches. Said Knight: ""I went, and nothing happened. Same weather, same conditions. The place just flat-lined." SONOMA:Reports from the bass crowd are quietly enthusiastic, with some talking about it and others too busy fishing. The winter bite, says one lake regular, has been excellent with the largemouths going after pig 'n jigs, Zoom lizards and ripbaits. Finding the fish is another matter, as they tend to school up this time of year; but the regulars can be seen casting along the main points. BERRYESSA:A lot of the same this week, with boat ers trolling Needlefish or Goldeneye lures, or slow trolling and drifting minnows and night crawlers for trout and small king salmon (which you should release). There also are bass being caught in the coves, some on plastics and others (honestly, the larger fish) on live crawdads. Nothing much to write about the catfish, as they seem to be away for the holidays, likely finning for warmer waters.

THE RIVERS

NORTH COAST:The rain (what little there was of it) came and went, and the rivers are dropping back toward low and clear. As of yesterday, however, the Eel, Van Duzen and Mad rivers, and Redwood Creek, were still open to fishing. And the bulk of the crowd has been on the Mad, where there are steelhead and still some salmon stacking up below the hatchery. If you don't mind the company, the fishing has been right up there at ""good." Salmon roe has been the top bait, followed by spinners and flies. For river-flow status, call (707) 442-4502. Oth erwise: (707) 442-1832. EEL:There are salmon and steelhead scattered throughout the system, but most of the angling attention has been between the county line (Men docino and Humboldt) and The Forks, with the bankies taking fish on roe and corkies, and the boaters doing best with plugs (Wee Warts and Wiggle Warts, mostly). Information: (707) 923-2533. TRINITY:The word from guide Bob Webster is plan on 10-fish days and plan on tears. In other words, welcome to steelheading. He had a client out a few days ago, and they managed not a single take. The very next day, the very same angler landed six adult steelhead and three half-pounders, all on crickets fished on light line. (530) 623-3719. LOWER SACRAMENTO:Over the past two weeks, some of the jumbo-sized salmon have moved into the holes around Anderson and Balls Ferry. And some have been caught, including a few 50-pound ers and a number over 40 pounds. The action isn't exactly sizzling, but it does represent a prime time for taking a ""trophy" fish. In any event, the season closes Jan.14. Nearly all of the action has been on sardine-wrapped Kwikfish and Flatfish, although roe has been working in the deeper holes (like the Barge Hole, for instance). The river flow is at 4,600 cubic feet per second, which means things are low and fairly clear. The trout fishing has been fluctuat ing between ""not worth it" and ""wouldn't want to be doing anything else." Globugs seem to be the bait of choice. Information: (530) 365-8140. AMERICAN:If you can look past the Nimbus Basin scenery, the steelhead fishing has been downright excellent. The early count at the hatchery is some thing like 800 fish. Even better, there are few anglers out trying for the fish. The bait of choice, by far, has been a small Little Cleo spoon in nickel- blue. Otherwise, it's roe, and beads and yarn. Re cent catch: Ted Wilson of Sacramento posed at Fran & Eddy's Sports Den recently with a steelie that went 9 pounds. New Year's Day, the river reopens to fishing below Nimbus. Information: (916) 363-6885. RUSSIAN:The river mouth closed up again Tuesday. But there are steelhead in the river, and they are being caught. The action is spread out from Casini Ranch to Dry Creek; your best bet is to look for other anglers, as they often signal either the pres ence of fish or alcohol. Top getter is roe, followed by spinners and flies. Information: (707) 869-2156. GUALALA:The river mouth opened last week, but the fishing did not. Bureaucracy or a timid Russian River. Greenhouse effect or the moon over Cairo. Either way, this steelheading gift is still wrapped until the rain comes down. River-flow status: (707) 944-5533. Other information: (707) 884-4247.